Help with lightening/dying SPS

KJAhp098

KJAhp098

New member
Hey guys, lately my corals have been lightening up in color and fading to light brown, and a couple other acros and granulosas skin is peeling away. It has been going on for the past few weeks or so.

Here are my params.

Nitrates 0 (api)
Phosphates ~0 (hanna)
Ca 440 (api)
Alk 8.5 (api)
Salinity 1.026
pH 7.78 at night and 8.0 day

400 watt 20k in center for 6 hours
8 x 39 watt t5s on both sides for 7 hours

I feed the fish pe mysis and rods food 3x per week

Reef nutrition oyster feast every few nights

Any ideas? I can't afford any more corals to die off. About 80% of the corals are doing fine though. No red bugs/flatworms either. Any help is appreciated.
 
There have been quite a few posts recently concerning sps fading. Most of the time the the consensus is lack of nutrients or too much light. I have nearly doubled my nutrient input and reduced the tanks photoperiod over the last couple weeks and I am just starting to see positive results.

I would start there if you have ruled out pests or disease.
 
Peeling flesh is not good...

Your pH is somewhat low. 8.3 would be better. Not sure that's the culprit though.

My sps paled when I wasn't feeding enough, but your feeding regimen is substantial. I'd be concerned about elevated phosphates (which could cause browning and retard growth) but yours are testing close to zero. Nice.
 
Unless you are using some type of carbon dosing it is very, very unlikely that the corals are starving. Your feeding regime is more than mine. Your lighting period is shorter than mine. Running GFO? How about some pics...
Any hair algae growth?
Never hurts to dip your corals in revive, they usually respond positively to it.
 
There isn't much I can do about the pH. I have a calcium reactor and it's been hot lately so I haven't been able to open the windows. Today is the first time they've been open over night and then pH only dropped to 7.9. The peeling flesh is on the granulosas and my pink jade. The pink jade rtn'd so I dragged a puece, which is now doing fine...just a bit on the light side.

BTW, I don't know what my mag is, but I use zeomag in my Ca reactor.
Also, my temp ranges from 79-81.
 
I run BRS high capacity gfo in a BRS dual reactor. I used to run their rox carbon, but I took that out about a few weeks ago. I have a couple quarter sized spots of hair algae on one rock (maidens I think)

I'll get a few pics tonight of some before and afters.

I do have a light bioload...vlamingi, cbb butterfly, bluejaw trigger, mimic tang, 2 clowns, sixline, and a lawnmower blenny. Think that could be the cause?
 
I think its possible, well not 100% scientific, but one time I had hair algae and I bumped my Mg to 1550 for treatment and I noticed my SPS changed color slightly..... I'm not 100% positive it was the Mg increase that caused the color change, could have been something else, but I didn't do anything different other than the Mg dosing....
 
PE is great on most of the corals.

10% wc every other week.

I started to dose tropical marin bio actif about have the recommended dosage once a week, but have stopped.
 
possibly too much GFO and a quick drop in phos and nitrate.You can try removing the GFO for a couple days to see if any changes can be noticed.I have seen that help.Almost seems like some acros need phos and nitrate to survive.
 
rigleautomotive said:
possibly too much GFO and a quick drop in phos and nitrate.You can try removing the GFO for a couple days to see if any changes can be noticed.I have seen that help.Almost seems like some acros need phos and nitrate to survive.
Click to expand...

Good idea. I'll stop the gfo for a while. Thanks.
 
Hard to say. With algae growth in the tank its not likely to be a sudden drop in phosphates, did you double the amount of gfo you are using when you stopped using carbon?
I usually see RTN with alk swings or excess nutrients, some type of stress for sure but we might not be getting the whole picture. The corals getting lighter is like too much light or nutrient poor conditions seen with carbon dosing. On the other hand he says it also turning brown which is more like excess nutrients. Phosphate tests are next to useless, even the hanna and hach.
You might verify your test reads by having it tested at a LFS or a buddies test kits
 
Something else to consider. If the problems started after you stopped using carbon then maybe the carbon was pulling something out that is now causing problems. Heavy metals? Rusted magnets, rusted pump parts
 
I would confirm your Mg levels. I rarely checked mine as it was always ok in the past. But when my tank was having similar symptoms I was surprised to find that my Mg was at 980. I have since raised it and I have seen lots of improvement.
 
Ken,
I recently am suffering the same problems as you are. I have experienced lightening of sps, and peeling tissue on a granulosa. This happened after an algae outbreak while I was on vacation. I elevated my mag to 1600 to kill some of the algae as I thought it might be bryopsis. Algae is gone but now some sps are light, and some look as if they suffer alk burn. Surprisingly, I have 2 superman monti frags next to each other, one is light and the other is vibrant. I am working on lowering my mag, I decreased my photoperiod, and stopped all additives except bionic. Just the basics. I would like to know where in Chicago you are? Maybe something local? IDK
 
RickMartin said:
Something else to consider. If the problems started after you stopped using carbon then maybe the carbon was pulling something out that is now causing problems. Heavy metals? Rusted magnets, rusted pump parts
Click to expand...

I thought the carbon was making the water a little too clean so I took it out after the corals lightened up.
 
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